Fresh as a daisy

The challenge at Die Cut Divas this month is white with a splash of colour.

The Sunflower Serenade die set was recently on sale at Spellbinders and since I don’t have anything similar I caved and bought it. I thought it would make a nice daisy giving me white flowers with yellow for my splash of colour. 

I’ve never really got to grips with white on white but I figured plenty of texture was probably the way to go. I used a border embossing folder with a little bit of shenanigans — it’s not long enough to do the whole panel so I figured out where the daisy would be and embossed up to there then flipped round and embossed down from the top to the same point and the flower covers the flattened join.

I wanted to give the centres that lovely pillowy domed effect that daisies have. After inking the edges, I used a large ball stylus and a foam mat to gently shape them. Running a bead of glue just round the very edge stuck them to the next layer just fine. I gave them the Wink of Stella treatment as well. The daisy at the bottom has Wink of Stella on the petals too which might be just about visible on this detail picture.

Supplies:
Sunflower Serenade dies (Spellbinder)
Pop Culture border embossing folders (Cuttlebug)
Stitched Rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Bristol board
Smooth yellow cardstock
Sentiment stamp (so old I can’t remember where it came from!)
Smokey Grey Versafine ink
Clear gems (unknown maker, they were a gift from Mia)
Clear Wink of Stella pen

Thanks for stopping by! Click the badge for all the challenge details:

Link in the chain -- July

It’s the second of the month and that can only mean one thing — reveal day at Card Chain Challenge! There were 26 players this month, sending little bits of happy mail around the world. Mine has gone to Chris in Illinois this time.

From the options on offer I chose cocktails from the themes and ink blending from the techniques, aiming for a kind of “drinks by the pool” vibe.

As usual, it’s a one layer card so it’s light and flat for airmailing. I used reverse masks to blend inks inside the glasses for my cocktails and regular masks so that I could put one glass behind the other and use a stencil for the background. Not sure what the colourful cocktail on the right is but I found a picture online and used it as a guide! I used water to lift a bit of the colour from the ice cubes and a tiny bit of white pencil on the highest spots as well for highlight lines on each glass.

Stamps:
Cocktails (Visible Image)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)

Paper: Bristol Board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukinko (Smoky Grey, Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Mint Julep)

Other:
Fibres Stencil (Visible Image)
White pencil
Gansai Tambi Starry watercolours (White gold)
Sequins
Corner Chomper

There are a few more days left to sign up for the August chain if you would like to receive some handmade happy mail. You just need to make one to send and you’ll get one for yourself:

Summer posies

I’m combining challenges again today. I’ve been meaning to play for ages at the CAS on Friday challenge where the current theme is flowers, Time Out is looking to Mother Nature for inspiration and Retro Rubber has given us a tic tac toe board to play with.

For Retro Rubber I chose the downward left to right diagonal of sparkle/your choice/flowers from the board, with die cuts as the wild card element. I have three sorts of sparkle going on — the card base, the trellis and the flowers are all Cryogen White cardstock which is a beautiful pale ivory with a lovely subtle shimmer, there are nail art gems in the flower centres and a few clear sequins scattered about the place!

The flowers are stamped and heat embossed and then coloured with some reinker and fussy cut. The die cut leaf sprig was lying about on my desk from another project — I coloured it with a Copic marker before tucking it in between the flowers. The pretty trellis was a bargain die I picked up a while ago for the princely sum of £3.20 for a package of three dies! I do love Cutting Edge Crafts for the occasional bargain splurge! (I have no affiliation, just a happy customer.)

I did try to work in a couple of tiny butterflies for an extra dose of Mother Nature but I couldn’t make anything look quite right so decided I should leave well enough alone and walk away before doing anything I might regret!

Stamps: Petite Posies (Technique Tuesday, no longer with us, 2011)

Paper: Cryogen White

Ink: 
Versamark by Tsukineko
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress reinker by Ranger (Picked Raspberry)

Other:
Detail clear embossing powder
Honeycomb dies (Simply Screens by Tonic)
Christmas roses dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Copic marker
Nail art gems
Clear/iridescent sequins
Corner Chomper  

Simple snowman

After a long break Loll and the team have brought back the CAS Christmas challenge where July’s theme is snowman. As I've gone die cut heavy, I’m combining with the Die Cut Divas for my second play there this month where the focus is on Christmas in July.

I die cut all the pieces for my snowman from white card and coloured with a combination of Copics and coloured pencils before assembling. As I wanted my snowman to face left and the scarf cuts with the longer bit that side, I flipped it over and smoothed down the edges with a bone folder before colouring. He has a little bit of chalk blush on his cheeks and a hand drawn smile. I used a white paint pen to make tiny dots all over his face for a slightly textured look and used Enamel Accents to make his eyes shine. The holly on his hat was stamped and fussy cut. 

Once I’d stamped the sentiment and stuck the snowman down with some scrap card underneath to raise him up just a tiny bit, I decided it needed something a little extra so tucked in some die cut snowflakes and added a few sequins. I finished off with my usual single rounded corner.

Stamps:
Christmas Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Christmas Joy (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink: Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Cool Yule dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Posca paint pen (white)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (black)
Clear iridescent sequins
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Summertime

It seems to have been Christmas for some time on the blog so I thought I should try to change gear! This month’s challenge at We Love Stamping has a focus on summer. As it’s the classic season for travel, I’ve gone that way as I needed a birthday card for someone who does quite a lot of travelling.

It’s personalised by having a destination hand written on the ticket. I hope he gets to fly in something a bit more comfortable than an open bi-plane, though! 

I used torn paper to create fluffy clouds in my blue summer sky, masking all the various elements first (including the edges masked with low tack tape). I would probably have added some colour to the globe but hubby liked it without and as he requested the card I went with leaving it black and white. The ticket has just a touch of pencil colouring and there’s a drop shadow added to the globe with a marker.

Stamps:
Vintage Transport (Tanda Stamps, no longer with us)
Be Happy Today (Hero Arts, retired I think)
Travel (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Grey Copic
Fineliner 

Thanks for stopping by!

Ornamental

I’m playing again at the Lost Coast Designs Christmas in July challenge and this time I’ve combined with the current challenge at Retro Rubber where we have a sketch to play with and Die Cut Divas who are also focusing on Christmas in July.

I thought it might be fun to put the Bubbles Border stamp to a different use and decided to use it as a pattern on some Christmas ornaments. The dies are really light bulbs but I figured if I only used the solid layer, they’d double up as teardrop ornaments. 

A combination of gold embossing, red watercolour paint, Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents and some tiny nail art gems makes for richly textured and opulent little baubles! I stamped and gold embossed the border and then die cut the parts of the pattern that seemed to fit best. I got six out of the border so I have another three to play with another time.

The square elements of the sketch are hand drawn with a copper gel pen, the ornaments are raised just a tiny bit with some card scraps and I tied some crochet thread through the hanger of each. I did stamp the sentiment directly on the card base but I managed to then drop the stamp back onto it so rather than start the card again, I stamped onto a slightly modified die cut and used that. I added a couple of decorative score lines to add a bit of interest to the white space of the sketch and gently rounded both corners (yes both, unusual for me!).

Stamps:
Bubbles Border (Lost Coast Designs, I’ve had mine since 2011)
Branch of pine small and Sentiment (Lesia Zgharda)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Pine Needles)

Other:
String of lights dies (MFT)
Detail gold embossing powder
Watercolour (Winsor & Newton)
Wink of Stella (clear)
Glossy Accents by Ranger
Nail art gems
Crochet thread
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by! Links to all the challenges if you would like to play along with any of them:

Bearing gifts

All the Christmas in July challenges are helping to boost my little stash but I couldn't let the month go by without playing at Christmas Kickstart where it's Christmas all year round and I've been good about my aim to join each month so far! This month's theme is “grace us with your presents” — focus on gifts.

The Santa and gift images are from a set that was a freebie with a magazine, I think they’re rather sweet. I’ve kept the treatment sweet and simple too, stamping, simple masking and colouring with pencils. The addition of a few sequins is the only concession to anything not purely “old skool”!

Stamps:

Santa Stamp Here (freebie set with Making Cards & Papercraft Magazine)

Christmas Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:

Bristol board

Ink:

Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:

Coloured pencils

Pan Pastel (Phthalo Green Tint)

Clear iridescent sequins

Corner Chomper

If you’re looking to boost your stash of Christmas cards now we’re on the downhill stretch, why not come and play along?

Under the mistletoe

It’s July so of course there are plenty of Christmas challenges out in blogland! I’m joining in at Lost Coast Designs and the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers with this one.

Frankenstein’s monster is hoping for a smooch under the mistletoe, even if it doesn’t end in him finding his bride. He was too busy finding the shiniest berries to get round to the housework though so anyone puckering up will have to excuse the massive cobweb!

I love the fact the Festive Foliage stamp set included the Mwah! sentiment to go alongside the mistletoe image.

Stamps: 
Frankenstein (Carmen’s Veranda)
Festive Foliage (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Smooth black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Weathered Wood)

Other:
Stencil by Tim Holtz (Shattered)
Copic markers
Glossy Accents 

Christmas in July with SSS!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers invited me along as guest designer this month — thanks girls! 

We're celebrating Christmas in July and Edna is in a festive mood. My ostrich appreciates the sandy setting but he's a bit worried that there might be nothing for him in those piles of gifts, he certainly thinks he might be on Santa's naughty list!

The string of lights is from an old magazine freebie set and it didn't stamp all that cleanly so I gave it some assistance with a fineliner. I used a silver pen at the top of each bulb, coloured them with a Copic and gave each one a little halo of coloured light with some chalk before adding a “catchlight” dot to each with a white paint pen.

The ostrich has been at the green feather dye as he thought it would look quite festive with his borrowed Santa hat. His faint shadow is courtesy of a bit of chalk.

I've finally managed to get my hands on the Katzelkraft Christmas Sayings set. I could only find it stocked at a US store (Topflight Stamps) that doesn't ship to the UK. Hubby just visited his son in Canada though so I got them shipped there and he brought them home for me (plus a couple of other things to help make the shipping fee more justifiable!). Hooray!

Stamps:
Ostrich, Funny Accessories and Christmas Sayings (all Katzlekraft, no longer with us)
Magazine freebie Christmas set 

Paper: 
Bristol board
Scrap of smooth black

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Copic markers
Bright white embossing powder (Wow!)
Chalk
White and Silver paint pens (Posca)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by! If you're making festive cards (snarky if that takes your fancy but any Christmas cards are welcome) why not play along with the Sisterhood:

 

Link in the Chain - June

It's reveal day once more at Card Chain Challenge. My card has gone to Dagmara in Poland this time.

From the options on offer I chose the themes of coffee and friendship and the technique option of embossing.

I noticed Dagmara mentions on her blog that she keeps pet rats. Having recently acquired the Katzelkraft City Rats stamp set I decided they should be the ones enjoying a coffee together. I did change the facial expression for the rat on the left -- he's usually looking rather scared. I covered up part of his face when I inked the stamp then drew in a little smile instead. His companion looks as if he's enjoying the aroma of that coffee, I just hope they don't over indulge! 

It's my usual one layer aesthetic for CCC, the embossing adds a bit of texture and there's a tiny touch of sparkle on the spoon, courtesy of Wink of Stella. The images are coloured with a mixture of Copic base layer and pencil detail and white paint pen over some of the steam lines.

Stamps:
City Rats (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Coffee and Chocolate (Stamperia)
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Pop Culture border embossing folders (Cuttlebug)
Pan pastel (Phthalo green tint)
Wink of Stella (clear)
Posca paint pen (white)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by! There are a few more days left to sign up for the July chain if you fancy making and sending one card and getting a card in return. All the details here if you’d like to join the fun